markovcd Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but this video is interesting from philosophical standpoint. Whole thing is quite good, but really tasty part starts at 5:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMb00lz-IfE#t=349 If it were possible to predict behavior of humans given all variables are known this would imply that entropy must be constant, which is impossible. If those quantum effects are totally random how then we can have free will which seems purposeful? Well, complexity and chaos gives purpose and order. In biology it's evident. Some random movement of particles made RNA and then DNA, which started long chain of evolution leading to us - new information was created. You can say that this isn't completely random, because evolution simply responded to the environment. This is false, because everything in the universe obeys basic quantum laws. So bacteria may only respond to the types of conditions on the Earth, but Earth itself is chaotic and complex system. This self referential loop is what gives order from chaos. How free will isn't just simply responding randomly to the environment then? Well sort of it is. But, free will only makes sense in interaction with other human beings. Brain is interacting with other brains. That creates constraints to the randomness of such complex system which makes a set of rules emerge (UPB). One more interesting point. Entropy of the whole universe increases with time. Given that free will requires complexity before some point in time, it was physically impossible.
Kevin Beal Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 This topic is considered off-topic by the forum guidelines. Discussions on this topic tend to devolve into aggressive escalating exchanges where no one changes their mind. Thanks for the link
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